AIM OF THE COURSE: To learn the foundations of Hebrew Calligraphy. We will begin with a study of a "Foundational" Hebrew Script. This script was carefully designed to teach the essentials of good Hebrew calligraphy which, once understood and mastered, variations and different styles can then easily be learnt. It was designed to give you the most for the six sessions of the course. During the course we will study a monoline aleph-bet, spacing exercises, the pen-made foundational, breeding varieties from the foundational (i.e.you will learn several aesthetic scripts based on what you have already learnt) including looks at Sephardic, Ashkenazic and Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts, systems of justifying text and more - all leading up finally, to writing a beautiful block of text which is our humble but lofty goal.
FOR WHOM IS THE COURSE GEARED: The course is geared to students of "Latin" calligraphy who want to branch out to Hebrew and/or to Hebrew Calligraphers who want to improve their writing.
LENGTH OF COURSE: The course will consist of six sessions. Students will be working at their own pace but will be requested to finish the course in up to eight months from receiving the first lesson.
LOGISTICS: Students will receive their lessons by mail, air mail from Israel. When you've completed the lesson you mail your work back to me. Here it will be reviewed, corrections and comments will be made and then returned to you together with your next lesson. Air Mail from Israel generally takes between five and twelve days to arrive. This time can be used to work on layout for a final project.
COST: The cost of the course is $200 (U.S.)for the six sessions. U.S.Residents can pay with a personal check made out to Izzy Pludwinski and sent to P.O.Box 8002 Jerusalem 91080 Israel.(Students from other countries can pay with a personal check in their local currency at the higher currency to dollar rate-this to slightly offset the high banking fees on my end ). The cost includes the lessons (including my comments and critiques) and my postage fees to you.
REQUIREMENTS: I will be assuming the student has some background in calligraphy in general. In other words I will not be teaching how to hold a pen, how to fill a pen with ink, etc. etc. I will also assume that the student knows such concepts as nib units and pen angle.(any questions though, will of course be answered). On the other hand I am assuming no prior knowledge or experience with either Hebrew Calligraphy or even the Hebrew language.
YOUR TUTOR: Here is a short bio :
Izzy Pludwinski has been working as a professional calligrapher since 1980, starting out as a certified scribe(Sofer STaM) and then branching out into calligraphy and design. After professionally freelancing for six years, he expanded his studies by attending Roehampton Institute for two years under the tutelage of Ann Camp, Gaynor Goffe, Gerald Fleuss- and Tom Perkins,completing their certificate in Calligraphy & Bookbinding. He has exhibited throughout Israel and has given two one- man shows in London. His work has appeared in Letter Arts Review (thrice selected for the "annual"), The Scribe, (author of article:"The Experience of the Hebrew Scribe", summer 1989) and The Encyclopedia Judaica among other publications. Izzy has taught Hebrew Calligraphy in Jerusalem for approximately 10 years and set up the Hebrew Calligraphy course at the Spiro Institute in London. In addition he has lectured at Emunah College and has given Hebrew Calligraphy workshops at the Israel Museum. At present Izzy is teaching Hebrew Calligraphy in two educational institutions in Jerusalem, in addition to keeping up a heavy workload as a freelance calligrapher.
above: a snippet from one of the "variation on the foundational" exemplars
